Having recently returned from yet another cruise on MS Magellan I’m already looking forward to my next one! Magellan is not a 5* ship so if this is what you’re looking for she isn’t the one for you. However, I couldn’t fault her, the crew were excellent, cleanliness was high on their list, the cabin was comfy and clean, the food was good, entertainment ok, especially the comedian in charge of bingo in the afternoons, and the organised tours were excellent with exceptionally good guides. We cruised to the Orkneys and the Shetlands first, but as we’d been to both on another cruise last year we didn’t take any of the excursions. Iceland, however, was a totally different matter. We took as many excursions as it was possible to take and thoroughly enjoyed them all. We saw fjords, geysers, waterfalls, volcanoes and some beautiful little villages. The roadsides were covered in beautiful blue lupins, which grow wild, and look stunning. We visited the Arctic Fox Centre and a village where there had been a landslide killing many people so they just moved the houses further down the road and created a new village. It was interesting to learn that all the schools are equipped with bedrooms in case the weather is so bad that pupils can’t travel home. The school year finishes in May so the schools are then turned into ‘hotels’ for the tourists. Reykjavik, although very nice, was very expensive, two cups of tea costing about £8, but it was worth every penny as the cruise was excellent. If you’re thinking of shopping in Reykjavic then think again….there aren’t that many shops and the designer names that we know so well just don’t seem to be there. We were told that nearly everything has to be imported hence the high prices. We cruised around Iceland completely and the scenery from north to south and east to west is so different. On the way home we called at the Faroe Islands and, unfortunately, as it was a Sunday there was nowhere open but even so we still enjoyed a walk around. It was the second time we’d been on Magellan and it certainly won’t be the last. Altogether it was a fabulous cruise allowing us to visit all the places we wanted to see on a smaller and more intimate ship that was extremely welcoming to its cruisers. We can thoroughly recommend it.
